LAUSR

Does it matter if a patient presenting with an exacerbation of COPD (ECOPD) is found to have consolidation on imaging? In the 2010 European COPD Audit, which included 14 111 patients from 384 hospitals in 13 countries with a primary discharge diagnosis of ECOPD, ∼20% had concomitant consolidation on admission chest radiography [1]. Crucially, the presence of consolidation was associated with increased 90-day mortality in this cohort (adjusted OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.2–1.55) [1]. Similar findings were seen in the large 2014 UK National COPD Audit, which found that ECOPD patients with consolidation experienced increased in-hospital mortality (6.7% versus 3.6%, p<0.001) and increased 90-day mortality (15.9% versus 10.8%, p<0.001) compared to patients without consolidation [2]. It is vital that clinicians identify radiological consolidation in hospitalised COPD patients, as this confers an increased mortality risk, has important implications for risk stratification and influences management http://bit.ly/2q2vH2J